The present invention is a one piece molded plastic strain relief bushing, in which cable may be set in the flat, unencumbered, open bushing configuration, either manually or by machine automation then locked between the closed bushing portions. The assembled cable and bushing may then be engaged in an aperture either manually or by an automated system without the need for special tools or expensive skilled labor. The bushing fits firmly within an aperture with an effective multipoint grasp. The bushing is preferably rectangular and adapted for a rectangular aperture.
In the crowded strain relief bushing art where millions of bushings are used yearly in an infinitude of components, particularly electronic components, small changes in structural components and their arrangement can mean substantial overall saving in part and/or labor costs or both, as well as bushing effectiveness. A labor intensive, expensive cost of electronic components of the past has been the assembly of cord sets for insertion into an aperture in a panel or the assembly in a bushing of a cable, wire or other long thin flexible items, requiring strain relief protection.
The assembly has oftentimes required manual assembly with special tools for cable held in a bushing being snapped into an aperture. A partial solution to the awkwardness of maintaining a cable in a bushing for insertion was to lock the bushing parts with the cable engaged. The bushings of the past themselves generally comprised two portions joined by some form of webbing. The webbing oftentimes complicated the engagement of the cable in the bushing.
The present invention is a structurally simple strain relief bushing with a novel lock in the well. The structure of the bushing enables effective automated assembly of cable and bushing, effective locking of the bushing and cable, economy of size, maxixmum strength, ease of insertion of the assembled bushing and cable into a aperture and limits the number of different bushing constructions necessary to meet the needs of different panel thicknesses.